Show Me Your Muse and I'll Show You Mine

Ever notice how the overwhelming majority of male characters in novels  -- regardless of genre -- are some combination of handsome, sexy, charismatic, fun-loving, larger-than-life, brave, stoic, bad boy, affectionate, snarky, loyal, and/or surprisingly gentle?

It's my firm belief that this tends to happen (with female writers, at least) because, well . . . those are the kind of men we like.

We won't all ever agree on what makes a man attractive, physically or personality-wise, but there are certain common traits that tend to show up time and again.

You know, those darn testosterone driven aspects that our estrogen enhanced brains are often powerless to avoid warming to, even if we don't like to admit it.

Let's face it, a novel can take months (sometimes even years) to write & edit, and who wants to spend that much time with a man that doesn't pique your curiosity in some way? How can he drive our heroines crazy if he doesn't make us a little loopy too?

This is where the muse comes in. Below are a few of the real life men, who give me a physical starting point when my male characters are first showing up to say hi.

Henry Cavill

Gabriel Aubry (yes, his hair IS cool)

Matt Cohen

But seeing as how we're all different, I'm curious to see what everyone else thinks. I want to pull together a picture post of some of the prettiest male (and female -- don't want my guy pals to feel left out)  muses around.

So, feel free to leave a comment with the name of your muse(s) and I'll get to googling for next week's post.  If there is a particular picture that captures your muse better than any other, please feel free to send it to me (as a link, if possible) to tracybuscemi@gmail.com .

Disclaimer: While I am not at all opposed to the full on beauty of the human form, this is an all-ages site. So no nudies, please. Now, shirtless on the other hand (male muses only) is not only allowed, but highly encouraged by the blog mistress.  Also, unless your boyfriend/ hubby/girlfriend/wife would truly appreciate seeing his/her face plastered on the internet, let's keep this to men and women already in the public eye.

Oh Crap! Now, I READ Like a Writer Too

There was a time when I'd hear some actor mumble "I can't watch movies the same way, now that I'm in them" and thought that sounded awfully short-sighted and snobberish. ( <-- It's a word in my world).

Except, now I kinda get what they're saying.

I've been a reader my entire life. But I've only been a reader who's serious about becoming a published author for a little over a year.

I've begun noticing more and more, my opinion of what I consider to be a good book is increasingly altered by the things I'm learning about writing.

With the lone exception of the Twilight Series (which breaks just about every rule of what you should not do), bad writing kills more books for me now than it did two or three years ago. And it's not just stilted or garbled sentences and dialogue that does it.

I'm far less forgiving of weak plots, cliched characters, lack of proper motivation, etc. I get annoyed by numerous things I rarely, if ever, noticed before.

Prime Example: ELIXIR by Hilary Duff.

I was so excited to read that book because of my long-standing girl crush on Miss Hilary. The premise sounded intriguing, especially considering the concept of soulmates & reincarnation is a big theme in my own stories.

At first, I was minorly irritated at how long it took the story to actually START. And when it finally got rolling, the darn thing blasted through a hodge-podge of plot bunnies that felt like something out of a beginner's "How to NaNoWriMo" guide.

But the worse part? The story ended without really ENDING.

Nothing was wrapped up!!

Now, I love reading series. Enjoy writing them too. And it's expected to end on some sort of cliff hanger that leaves readers feeling unsettled. But something has to be resolved. It's a book, not a mini-series for Pete's sake.

Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a review post.

Point is: once upon a time I might have been fine with a book like Elixir. Now, especially after everything I've learned, it takes a lot more to win my approval . . . and more importantly, my word-of-mouth recommendation to fellow readers.

How about you all? Do you find yourself becoming a more finicky reader than you used to be or can you flip the switch on/off?

Character vs. Plot

Okay, before I jump into today's post, I have a confession to make.

10 days in & I've already fallen off the NaNoQuerMo mark. Not because I forgot, got scared or even lazy. But because -- despite my dozens upon dozens of attempts -- as of yesterday I still hadn't created a query that felt right.

Then I accidentally stumbled upon a simple piece of advice which had never been expressly pointed out to me before. And sometimes I really need things spelled out for me in huge, neon letters!!

If your story is character-driven than your query should be character based. If your story is plot-driven than your query should be plot based. 

YES! That makes so much sense. . . but um, I've always been sketchy on what the distinction is between the two. I mean all stories have characters right? But they also have plot . . . very sketchy indeed.

Sadly enough, in order for it to make sense I needed to relate the terms to movies. So for those of you who've also been kind of not exactly sure how your story fits into things...

Character Driven
Character driven stories are ones where it's the characters, more than anything else, that moves the story forward. The actual events that happen aren't as important as how the characters feel, act and relate to those events. Case in point:

The Notebook

The story is about Noah & Ally and their star-crossed love. You could swap out virtually all but one of the reasons that continually drive them apart (the whole alzheimer's thing is pretty damn important) because in the end, the only thing that matters is Noah & Ally finding their way back to each other no matter the obstacles.

Their story is character driven.


Plot Driven
Plot driven stories can have wonderful, quirky, well-developed characters, but ultimately they don't matter as much as the plot. It's the events that happen that drive the story along. Case in point:

Armageddon

(okay, I know technically Ben Affleck wasn't the main star of the movie, but I was so in love with him back then!)

Yes, Bruce Willis & his rag-tag group of deep-sea oil drillers are a diverse and interesting bunch, but this movie kept us on the edge of our seats because of the plot. When there's a giant asteroid hurtling through space on a collision course for earth, while there's only 18 days to figure out a way to stop it . . . the characters really have no choice but to play second fiddle.

Their story is plot driven.

****

Now back to me. <---- That just made me feel like the Old Spice guy. Creepy.

Anyway, it took me all this time to realize, the reason my query never felt right to me was because I was trying to write a plot-based one for a character-based story. Two days ago, I began redrafting my query (for only the bazillion and tenth time), but I focused more on my character and less on the intricacies of the plot. . . and low & behold I found the "voice" that's been missing from every other version I've created thus far.

Now, I'm not claiming the query is perfect, but for the first time I feel much more comfortable the agents who read it are getting a better idea of the type of story they'd be requesting. Now, I just have to spend the rest of this week getting caught up on those few days of querying I missed while I was completely revamping.

Vampire Diaries

I decided the whole posting-at-night thing wasn't really working for me. Hey, I gave it two whole nights, at least.

On Topic: It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of LOST, but one of my other current television loves is Vampire Diaries (comes on Thursday nights @ 8 on the CW, for those who are interested).

I've been fascinated with vampires since the first time I saw "The Lost Boys", back in the day. I love all kinds of vampires. From the ones who are little more than slobbering grave monsters, to the more aristocratic Anne Rice types.

And yes -- I have a weakness for teenage vampire stories.  (It doesn't hurt that the men who play said teenage vampires are H-O-T!)

The way I see it, my teenage years were the most emotionally challenging of my life (at least up to this point. Check back with me after I have a couple kids). So naturally, I can feel for characters who are perpetually stuck in that phase of their existence. It's the be careful what you wish for answer to "if only I could be young again and still know what I know now" idea.

Anyway, my whole point in choosing this topic today was. Vampire Diaries is a television series that is based off an old book series. LJ Smith wrote her first story with these characters back in the early 90's. I've read a few of those books and they were okay. (It was a much earlier version of YA, and it was a little  blander than what I like in my teen stories) But Kevin Williamson (Dawson's Creek & Scream, Scream 2, etc) is the writer for the television show. He's a phenomenal writer, and has a way of continually building the tension & drama. I get addicted to his shows time and time again. 

The thing is, Kevin took a good deal of liberties with the story line and characters from the book series (though, IMO, he made definite improvements). Sometimes though, I wonder how LJ Smith ultimately feels about that. Obviously she consented to the television deal, and I'm sure she isn't complaining that her series is back on the NYT best seller list after more than a decade, but ... how does she feel about those liberties?

How do you think you would feel if this situation were to arise with your story/series? Be it a television show or movie adaptation, do you think it would be unsettling for you to have someone else writing your characters instead of you?

Crushing on Characters

I haven't had a whole lot of time for personal reading the past week or so, but last night I finished Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. Overall, I liked the story a lot (there were some things the characters said that I found more profound than most adults are capable of, let alone teenagers, but otherwise two thumbs up.)

It wasn't the type of story line I would usually think to pick-up for myself, but I wound up totally enjoying it. The reason why, I realized, is because I developed a crush on the male character. So what if he was only seventeen and a gang member?  He was also really smart, with a good heart, and only part of the gang because he was trying to protect his family & keep his younger brothers out of trouble, and then he fell head over heels for the girl from the right side of the tracks and ... ahem, sorry.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about most of the books that I consider to be my favorites. The reads that I enjoy so much I take the time to tell other people about them. The stories I still remember long after I've finished reading. Of course, good writing & excellent story telling are key components, but I've come to learn (for me) there HAS to be something else. It doesn't matter what genre it is, but in order for me to LOVE a book it has to have one of the following ingredients:

1) I have to fall in love with the male MC


2) I have to want to be - or be friends with - the female MC 

If a story can make me do BOTH at the same time, I'm guaranteed to love it!

I went back over the list of some of my favorite books to see if my theory holds true:

Pride & Prejudice : Lizzy is plucky and easy to admire, but really it's Mr. Darcy who makes me swoon at the end.

New Moon : I don't really like Bella, but I'm so crazy about Jacob Black that I'm willing to overlook the fact that he's only sixteen ... and a werewolf.

Vampire Academy Series : Rose is so snarky, I can't help but adore her. However it is her seriously sexy Russian mentor, Dimitri, that keeps me turning pages well into the night.

Those are just a couple examples (I didn't really think it would be appreciated if I listed every book I ever really enjoyed & why).


I wonder if this is just me, or if others tend to feel this way too. If developing crushes on characters is a common theme to really enjoying a good book, it could explain why women make up the larger percentage of fiction readers. Not that men can't do it (I've heard more than one guy admit to being smitten with Hermoine from Harry Potter), but they're more likely to need the action first & the affection will come with time.

Anyway, do you all find yourself developing crushes on the heroes & heroines in the stories you read? If not, what is the leading factor that draws you in and makes a really good book stand out from the rest?